Democratic state House candidate Jody Gaulin and the chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party accused Duke Energy on Friday of using a letter to "illegally tout" Republican state Rep. Bill Sandifer.

Sandifer, a Seneca lawmaker who is seeking his 13th term in the state House of Representatives, denied the charge. He is being challenged by Gaulin for his seat representing state House District 2 in the Nov. 6 general election.

The letter was sent to hundreds of Oconee County customers after a recent power outage.

Duke Energy spokesman Ryan Mosier acknowledged that the timing of the letter could have led to it being construed as "an allowed in-kind contribution" to Sandifer.

Terry Kozma, an Ohio resident who said he is visiting his parents in Oconee County, said he questioned the propriety of Duke "sending out this political letter." He said his parents received the letter Thursday.

Dated Tuesday, the letter was mailed to about 500 customers near Lake Keowee. In it, Duke official Emily DeRoberts states that Sandifer "worked with us to ensure your best interests were at the forefront of our work."

According to the letter, DeRoberts is a district manager for Duke's South Carolina government and community relations team.

In a statement issued Friday, Gaulin said the letter represented a blatant attempt by Duke to "convince skeptical voters that they somehow benefit from Sandifer's deep ties to power companies."

"The outage in Seneca's Keowee I, II and III neighborhoods occurred about two weeks ago, but the letter was dated Oct 23rd, exactly two weeks before election day," Gaulin said. "This is the first letter they have ever received from Duke after an outage."

In an emailed response Friday, Mosier said Duke works "with elected officials across the state every day."

"Rep. Sandifer did contact us about a recent power outage in the Lake Keowee area, and asked that we provide more information about the outage to about 500 customers that were impacted," Mosier said. "Because of the timing of our response to these customers being so close to the election, these letters could be viewed as an allowed in-kind contribution to Rep. Sandifer, though that was certainly never our intent. We will provide the total costs associated with the mailing to Rep. Sandifer for his reporting purposes."

Trav Robertson, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said the letter represented an illegal campaign contribution because Duke has already donated $1,000 to Sandifer's campaign, which is the maximum amount allowed under state law.

"Bill Sandifer is responsible for the nuclear scandal, our high power bills, and the millions of dollars the CEOs of power companies have pocketed," Robertson said. "Duke is so desperate about their favorite utilities candidate losing that they maxed out to Sandifer’s campaign and then broke state ethics law by exceeding contribution limits by sending this letter."

Sandifer said Robertson is mistaken. He said the $1,000 contribution that he received for his re-election campaign last year came from a political action committee that represents Duke's employees, not the company.

Records show that Sandifer has received $7,000 in donations from the Duke Energy State Political Action Committee, which also is listed as DUKEPAC, since 2008. According to Friday's statement issued by the state Democratic Party, Sandifer's current re-election campaign also has received $5,000 in contributions for other energy companies or related political action committees.

"For the Democrats to say there was some wrongdoing is a gross, gross exaggeration because it is not true," Sandifer said. "The fact that my name appears in a letter has nothing to do with anything I have asked for or suggested."

Sandifer said he contacted Duke during the recent power outage after he received a call from a constituent. He said the outage, which was caused by a fallen tree, was the third that had happened in the same area in a relatively short period of time.

He said he met the next day with a Duke engineer and district manager for the company. As a result of that meeting, he said, Duke has identified 12 trees close to power lines in the area that need to be removed.

"I was doing my job," said Sandifer.

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